Benevolence
by Ariaeris
Summary: At the deciding moment between a hero's life or death, Gaia sends forth one of its most beloved champions to assist him, so that what might have been will, in the end, never be. Z/C pre-slash.


_**Benevolence**_

_Chapter 1: Divine Intervention_

_In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe._

_- Carl Sagan_

* * *

"Our chosen are not going to make it."

The words were said with such cold finality that Harry almost shivered, but he reigned in the impossibly human impulse. He had nothing to fear from the Planet.

He 'turned' to 'face' the Planet. The naming of his actions were remnants of his past human existence, which he had been forced to abandon. He had grown too strong over his life, his own considerable power bolstered by Dumbledore's final gift on his deathbed and what he had stolen from Voldemort upon the Dark Lord's defeat, that all his power could not be contained in a mortal existence. Instead, he had been forced to transcend, until he lost all connection to humanity save that for being its silent observer.

Gaia's near-identical creation had been quite the interesting occurrence; after generations of abuse, magic had finally consolidated itself into a single entity that called itself the Lifestream. Like Harry, magic itself transcended the mortal plain, leaving behind what Harry figured was its 'body,' much like how he had left his corpse behind once he had been forced from it.

Located beneath the Planet's surface, the remnant of magic drew the souls of the deceased to it, and the Spirit Energy and memories were then recycled and the given to the newly born. The Lifestream had also developed a consciousness which had entitled itself Gaia, and it had joined Harry as the Planet's observer.

"You really think so?" Harry 'said.' Another humanistic labeling; he had no mouth with which to speak with, just as he had no physical body with which to turn to and converse to Gaia with. They were merely… presences, that were composed of thoughts, ideas, and on occasion, emotions, but they weren't human, and that was a fact that they couldn't escape.

"Look for yourself."

Harry opened his consciousness to the Planet, watching the world stretch out before him. How the world had changed in the eons he had been away from it! No matter how many times he gazed upon it, it still managed to take his breath away, no matter how scarred it had become in recent generations.

His 'eyes' were quickly drawn to the two he favored above all else. Even if he wasn't human, he still had memories of being human, memories that made it impossible for him to be as impartial as Gaia could be to the endless struggle humanity always found itself embroiled within. He had his favorites and those he disliked, no matter how much that normally annoyed Gaia.

Gaia was correct. The abhorrent thought overtook his consciousness, warring with a sudden surge of fear. The older of his chosen was faltering in the face of overwhelming odds. No one could argue that he did not have the will or strength to force himself onwards, but there came a point where the body could just not continue on, and all the willpower in the world was crushed by the frailty of mortality.

Zackary Fair. That had been the name he had whispered into the minds of his chosen's parents. Zackary, meaning derived from Zachariah and Zachary, Remembered by the Lord, and Harry had never forgotten his chosen. Blessed with as much good fortune as Harry could give him, Zackary had grown into a strong, courageous man, as he would need to be to protect that which he had been entrusted with.

His gaze turned to his other chosen, the chosen who Gaia also held in its favor; Cloud Strife, who fate had been unjustly harsh to. His family name was cruelly indicative of his existence, but strength was always tempered by experience, both good and bad, and they both had seen the enormous amount of potential that even now flourished within the blond. Currently though, he was trapped inside his mind, forced there as a result of that disgusting man's experimentation.

Harry could still remember Gaia's reaction to discovering how her first chosen in centuries had been treated. That Hojo's afterlife would be nothing short of hellish would be an understatement.

Harry quickly drew his consciousness away, not able to stand the sight of his falling chosen any longer.

"Is there anything you can do?" Harry asked, and a pulse of curiosity from Gaia was his only response. "You are closer to the Planet than I am; surely you can interfere this once!"

Gaia was quiet for a long time before it answered in a hushed whisper. "This pains me as much as you, my Child. In this, I cannot change what fate has decided."

"Fate," Harry spat, and in his anger, thunderstorms grew over Gaia. "Why must all my chosen be as damned in life as I was?"

A quick whisper of power, and sunlight dispelled his quickly growing storms. "Do not grieve; everything has been for this one moment."

"Everything? Everything!?" Harry exclaimed. "The Planet itself is on these two's side, practically every opportunity has been presented to them for survival, and yet now these two will fall here? Right on the edge of safety? How can I not grieve?"

"Cloud will survive," Gaia said simply, and Harry snorted.

"A pyrrhic victory. Cloud will survive, but he will never live again."

"Then why don't you help them?" Gaia asked, and Harry was overwhelmed with confusion.

"We already decided on this long ago, Gaia," Harry replied. "I helped the settlers from Spira and you have controlled the Planet since then. Yet you wish me to overstep my boundaries?"

"You're hesitant now?" Gaia questioned, 'eyes' flickering to the quickly concluding battle on the Planet. Zack stood victorious but weak, and a few of Shinra's forces were quickly making their way towards him. At the same time, Cloud was quickly returning to consciousness, just in time to witness what would be his beloved's final moments.

"Never," Harry said harshly. "What do I need to do?"

A warm presence embraced him, startling him, and held him tight.

"You have always been so ready to sacrifice yourself for others," Gaia said, half-proud and half-chidingly. "You worry me so much, and yet, never has someone with my power made me so well-pleased."

The presence released him and Harry started as his existence lurched. Vertigo overtook him, and he could feel himself… falling.

"As always, I have great faith in you. Protect those who you love; destroy those who you condemn; live once more so that when you return, your spirit might be lightened with joy."

"Gaia?" Harry whispered, and then the soft crunch of gravel beneath his feet and the sharp tangy smell of blood shook him to the core. He stumbled forward, bombarded by sensory overload, only to shriek as a bullet tore its way through his arm. His breath rushed out of him; how long had it been since he had last felt pain?

"Get down!" someone shouted, and the voice was familiar enough that Harry snapped out of his trance and glance behind him. There, bloody, bruised, and beaten, was Zack, staring at him in slight fear, his violet eyes flashing with confusion.

The cold sensation of a raindrop hitting the nape of his neck drew his attention to the front once more, and that was the only thing that saved his… life? Was he really alive again?

The searing pain of a bullet whizzing past him, grazing his shoulder as he dodged to the side, was more than enough of an answer. Harry grit his teeth, reaching inside himself for the magic that had remained untouched for so long, and lashed out with it full force. The Shinra grunts froze for a split second before shattering, crystallized fragments of flesh scattering across the plateau.

With the release of his magic, Harry felt his energy surge out of him, and he swayed where he stood. Tired… he felt tired. What an odd sensation, one he could barely remember having felt before.

Someone gasped behind him, and as he fell backwards, his eyes met the confused stares of his two chosen. And then he was unconscious, blissfully unaware for the first time in millennia, his rest peaceful with the knowledge that he had managed to save his two chosen.

* * *

…Well, this didn't turn out as I expected. I planned on having a greater focus on some Zack/Cloud preslash (it was there, but it was practically blink-and-you'll-miss-it), but I think I made this sound more Gaia/Harry-ish, which is… not what I was intending in the slightest. Oh well; I can only do what the plunnies tell me to, and nothing more. Blame my demented conscious for the _weird_ tone this whole oneshot took.

Um, hi FF7/HP fandom! I know this isn't the greatest way to introduce myself to the fandom, but I couldn't resist the idea of Harry being pissed off about not getting some of the Z/C action he wanted. The idea that both Gaia and Harry were Z/C fans amused me, and was actually the inspiration for this little ditty. Who know that the Planet itself was a fan of our favorite chocobos?

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to continue this, even though I have some interesting ideas floating around in my head about what could possibly happen. The pairing would have definitely been Zack/Cloud, maybe Zack/Cloud/Aeris/th, but other than that, the huge plot point would have been Harry dying instead of Aeris/th. It's just been so long since I played FF7 that I could never write a whole fic for it. It would literally be impossible.

Anyway, I'm copy-pasting the note from Alacrity down below. If you've already seen it, skip it; if you haven't, you might want to check it if you want to know what's going on with my updating schedule for the next three months or so.

My big four projects at the moment (Ardent Argent, A Moment of Mercy, Inexorable Inevitability, and Hardly Able to Breathe) are currently in a big overhaul phase. I'm trying to decide in which direction I want to take each story, and writing is going to take a bit of time. Now, I don't want to keep my readers hanging, so I've decided to follow my 2009 schedule and take a lull in writing (hah! As if I wasn't already in one!) and have a huge updating fest in April.

That's not to say that nothing is going to get done between now and then! What I'm planning on doing is, during the months of February and March, write two separate sets of oneshots; in February, I'll have Harry Potter Crossover oneshots and in March I'll have oneshots in different fandoms. I'm not shooting for daily updates (are you serious? Me? Daily?) but I will shoot for at least two new stories a week. I'll also be adding some other things and, at the same time, I'll be working on the Big Four and maybe updating them once or twice.

I know that might frustrate a few people, but I already feel really guilty for leaving you all hanging since Christmas and I want to at least give you all something to tide you over.

Anyway, reviews are always loved, but a big thank you to everyone who reads this fic, whether you review or not. Just the fact that some people out there enjoy my work is enough for me!

Ciao,

Ariaeris~

Ps: Someone was confused about the Spira allusion and why it was mentioned in connection with Gaia. I was just going along with the theory put forth by Kazushige Nojima and Yoshinori Kitase (scenario writer and producer of many Final Fantasy games respectively) that the Shinra Corporation was established by the descendents of the character Shinra from FFX-2 thousands of years after FFX-2 had taken place and space travel had been made possible. Just a little fun fact for those who are interested in the Final Fantasy mythos.


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